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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23216962">world keeps spinnin'</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/saratogaroad/pseuds/saratogaroad'>saratogaroad</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Ori and the Blind Forest</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Adopted Sibling Relationship, Fix It, Gen, fuck canon i choose to be happy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 10:41:24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,540</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23216962</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/saratogaroad/pseuds/saratogaroad</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of narrow escapes from and through the Forest of Niwen, and two lives irrevocably altered by the swiftly changing course of fate.</p><p>(au; spoilers for the Silent Woods and onwards)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Ori &amp; Ku</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>75</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. afraid that we just might drown</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <i>The end of the Woods is within sigh, within reach. Ku runs as fast as her legs will carry them, wings tucked in, head tucked low, but she's not fast enough! Shriek is bigger, faster, filled with rage and hatred the likes of which Ori hasn't felt since the highest reaches of Nibel. He hadn't stood a chance then and they don't stand a chance now. </i>
</p><p>
  <i>With a flap of her massive wings Shriek closes the gap, crying her hate to the skies, talons outstretched and gleaming in the moonlight. There's nowhere to go, nowhere to hide! She grabs him, yanks him off Ku's back, and before he can so much as scream her talons close around his chest--</i>
</p><p>With a shout Ori catapulted himself out of the makeshift nest, instinct carrying him as far from the threat as he could get before it could get him instead. Someone let out a startled <i>hoot!</i> behind him but he didn't dare turn to look, paws outstretched to grab onto the wall and pull himself up and--</p><p>Pain lit up all along his back, half-healed wounds loudly protesting the sudden motion and jolting him out of the nightmare. With a gasp he plummeted back to the soft moss that lined the safe cove deep within Kwolok's Hollow, landing hard on his aching back. He lay there, panting, blinking up at the mid-day sky through the holes in the cavern ceiling.</p><p>"Ori?"</p><p>Still breathing hard, Ori turned his head. Ku blinked back at him from the little stump that had become their nest. Half dry straw clung to her feathers, stems swaying as she cocked her head in utter confusion. No wounds, no blood, just Ku. He closed his eyes again.</p><p>"Just a bad dream," He told her, rolling onto his stomach with a soft grunt. It would have been so easy to stay there in the soft moss, but no. He wanted back on that neck, back with the warmth of his sister. His arms trembled as he pushed himself back up, taking wobbly steps until he was close enough to heave himself back onto the nest beside her. "Didn't mean to wake you."</p><p>Ku cooed at him, nuzzled the side of his head with her own. No harm done, the achingly familiar gesture meant, no need to worry. Still he caught her big eyes filled with worry as they cast a darting glance down his back; his nightmare hadn't been so far removed from the actual night to be <i>just</i> a dream. Shriek had come at them as they bolted from the Silent Woods, talons gleaming in the rain filled night, and she nearly had plucked him off of Ku's back. Only Ku throwing herself off the log and into the darkness below had saved them from a worse fate.</p><p>"It's okay," She said aloud, lowering herself to her belly beside him as Ori sprawled out on his stomach, back aching too much for his normal curl. "Are you hurting?"</p><p>"A little." The wounds down his back were shallow, nothing the goo from the softly glowing green plants that dotted Nibel couldn't have fixed, but the Decay had settled so well into Niwen that those plants were fewer and further between. His own healing abilities had stopped the bleeding but not the ache. Even so, he'd had worse before. Not that he was about to tell her that! Not today, not after they had come so close to losing one another. If Shriek had managed to kill him he would have come back, but if Ku had been the one to get hurt instead--</p><p>A shudder wracked his body at the thought. Ku crooned softly, preening behind one of his ears to comfort him. Ori sighed quietly; it had been a close call, but they were alive and together. That was all that mattered. </p><p>He let the silence fall between them, warm in all the right ways. Between it and her caretaking, he almost fell back asleep.</p><p>"Ori?" Ku asked before he could slip back into a doze. Her voice was so quiet that he had to raise his other ear to catch it. "Why...why was she like that?"</p><p>"Hm?"</p><p>"Shriek," She said, and all traces of sleep left him. Ori turned his head to his sister, meeting her imploring eyes, "She would have hurt us, or--or killed us!" Her feathers puffed out. "Why? We didn't do anything to her!"</p><p>No. They hadn't. They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Some of the wild animals in Nibel were like that, defensive of their territory even after the Light had returned, but this hadn't felt like that. They defended territory, pack, not an empty, ashen wasteland littered with the bones of their kind. Shriek had been the only living creature in those woods, and from what Kwolok had said, it had been that way for a long, <i>long</i> time. </p><p>To be <i>that</i> alone, the last of your kind, with no one to care for or about you...despite the warmth of the nest, Ori shivered.</p><p>"Ku, she..." He couldn't find the right words for this. What would Mama Naru say to her? How would Sein or the Spirit Tree try and explain it? He didn't know, not for sure. He looked into Ku's eyes and shook his head. "I think Shriek is hurting. Sometimes, when someone's hurting that bad, hurting others is all they can do."</p><p>Like Gumo, scared and alone. Like Kuro, defending her last chick from the whole world. They'd both had their reasons, and they'd been good ones. He wanted to think that Shriek had her own reasons, too, but. It was hard to think like that right now.</p><p>"That's not right," Ku whined, scuffing a talon through the straw, "Making more hurt...it's not right, Ori. It doesn't fix anything!"</p><p>No, it didn't. It couldn't. Hurt only made hurt until someone said <i>enough</i> and stopped the hurting. Pushing himself up onto one arm, he wrapped the other around Ku's neck. She leaned into him.</p><p>"I don't like her," She said, "I want to yell at her and peck her and--and--" Her feathers fluffed up to their fullest height, a not so scary sight, "And make her go away!"</p><p>"Me too, Ku." Ori replied. There was some part of him that felt sorry for Shriek, all alone and so unloved. He had spent only a few days like that and still caught himself watching Naru breathe some nights. To have spent an entire life like that...no one deserved it. But that part was small in comparison to the rest of him, the protective instincts that had risen since Ku's hatching. If Shriek came at them again, tried to hurt Ku again, he wouldn't be so friendly a second time. He tightened his grip on her. </p><p>"Me too."</p><p>Silence fell between them, too warm and almost sticky. He was too tired to try and unravel it, the shock of the nightmare faded back into the exhaustion that still clung like spider webs. He let the silence stay there, let his sister's familiar breathing soothe his frayed nerves. But just when he thought she'd fallen back asleep, she shifted beneath him.</p><p>"...Was my egg-mama like her?" Ku asked, once more jolting Ori straight out of his doze. He stared at her, startled, and she stared back. She blinked her bright red-orange eyes at him, worried and curious but obviously unsure she wanted the real answer.</p><p>He wasn't sure he wanted to give it to her, either. No one but Sein knew the whole, real truth of what they'd learned. He'd told Naru most of it--leaving out the dozens of painful, terrible deaths--and they had told Ku that her egg-mother was gone. That Kuro had sacrificed herself to ensure that both Ku and the forest would live on, but they'd never told her <i>why</i> Kuro had had to sacrifice herself.</p><p>Maybe that had been a mistake.</p><p>"Ku..."</p><p>"I heard Gumo talking to Mama Naru about her, after you had a nightmare," Ku explained, turning to look at the ground, "How she hunted you. Hurt you." Her voice went even quieter. "Shriek did the same thing."</p><p>"Ku..." Ori pinned his ears back. "Your egg-mama was...she..." It was true. He still had nightmares about it, about eyes glowing with hatred, about talons piercing his heart, about that final encounter on the slopes of Mount Horu. However right she was in the end, Kuro's was a face that would terrify him for the rest of his days. Shriek's would, too, but that didn't make them the same.</p><p>"She was just trying to protect you," He finally said, "She thought the Light would hurt you, that's all. It wasn't her fault, or mine." </p><p>Sort of. Ku shook her head.</p><p>"You don't protect anyone by hurting others," She said, "Mama Naru never does!"</p><p>"Mama Naru's special," Ori pointed out. Using Ku's neck to pull himself up, he plopped himself down to sit. "Ku, your egg-mama loved you. She did everything she did <i>because</i> she loved you. She was." Scared. Hurting in ways he didn't know how to explain. He shook his head as Ku turned to him, waiting for him to try anyway. He took a deep breath. "She did a lot of bad things, and made a lot of mistakes, but she did those things to keep you safe. She was nothing like Shriek."</p><p>He didn't think Shriek would know love if it went and bit her beak off, but that wasn't her fault, either. Hate, and pain, and anger...they were all she knew. He...actually did feel pretty sorry for her, when he thought about it.</p><p>"...how can you not hate her?" Ku asked, "How can you not hate me?"</p><p>Ori blinked, stopped dead in his thoughts, then threw himself forward to wrap Ku up in a tight hug.</p><p>"You're my sister, silly!" He scolded her, "I could never hate you!"</p><p>Was he still scared of Kuro? Yes. She would haunt his nightmares forever. Did Shriek scare him? Yes. But did Ku? Absolutely not! Especially not after he had seen her slip across the frozen ponds. Her wings wrapped around him in return, soft and warm and familiar. He nuzzled into her, her feathers tickling along the side of his neck.</p><p>"...I love you, Ori."</p><p>Ori sighed, closing his eyes.</p><p>"Love you, too, Ku."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. you were there in the garden</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>cw; mild vomiting, mild blood</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"I am well, little ones," Kwolok's voice rumbled instead of boomed, "Save the leaves for Ori."</p><p>Ori was too busy retching into the swamp to protest, his stomach heaving, his insides on fire. Ku was hovering worriedly behind him, cooing softly, darting back and forth behind him as his insides tried to become his outsides. She was unharmed, thank the Light; escorting the wounded Kwolok back from the Luma Pools whilst being hunted by the mass of Darkness from<br/>
the Wellspring had been unexpected, and defending them both had taken nearly everything Ori had.</p><p>Maybe it had taken everything after all. Though it had only managed to grab hold of him once, the Darkness of that foul creature had eaten through his fur, poisoning him as swiftly as the once fouled waters of Nibel had. Ku had intervened to save his life, but the damage had been done. One final retch shuddered through his entire body, the sour taste of acid and Darkness lingering on his tongue. It never got any easier to stomach.</p><p>Coughing, trembling, Ori sat back. Still cooing worriedly, Ku nuzzled up behind him so as to let him lean against her. They both looked up at Kwolok. The great toad spirit was wounded, his injuries from his tussle with the Darkness worse than Ori had first thought, but he was alive. He was too stubborn to die, Ori thought, but his power was spent. He could no longer hold back the Decay. It was already pressing in, the plants going gray and dying, the water turning brackishly foul. It had taken weeks for the Decay of Nibel to really claim the Swallow's Nest after Kuro had torn Sein from the tree, but something told Ori that it wouldn't be so slow here. Niwen was dying.</p><p>How long until it took everyone inside with it? It had already claimed the Silent Woods, and the thought of Ku frozen in stone and ash like all those owls made his tired heart skip a beat.</p><p>"Are you alright, Ori?" Kwolok leaned down to ask. Dozens of Moki were crawling across his hide, pressing goo covered leaves to his injuries. There was still blood dripping from his nose, but his concern was entirely for Ori. "The Darkness is not easy on creatures of Light such as yourself."</p><p>No. But it had happened before. Ori swallowed hard, his throat aching.</p><p>"I'm fine," He rasped. Ku's worried coo buzzed through his skin. Lurching forward, he tried to push himself up. "We have to...we have to get the heart..."</p><p>Pushing himself to his hooves, he tried to ignore the shaking in his legs. He'd had worse, he told himself. This wasn't his first time being poisoned. He'd made it through just fine before.And maybe he had, but this time he couldn't. Before he could take more than a single step, his strength gave out. </p><p>"Ori!" Ku shrieked, lunging forward. She caught him on a wing before he could hit the ground, helping him to sit back down. "Ori, please--you need to take it easy!"</p><p>"We don't have time," Ori got out between heaving gulps of air. He just had to...he had to keep her safe...he had to get <i>up!</i> Planting both paws on the ground, he went to push himself up again, "We have to...if the Willow dies, then..."</p><p>"Ori..."</p><p>"Ku! Ori!"</p><p>They both turned so quickly they nearly toppled over in a tangle. Naru came bursting from the cove, a horde of Moki running at her heels and Gumo barely a pace behind.</p><p>"Mama Naru!"</p><p>Ku bolted forward, meeting Naru halfway down the path before she leapt into Naru's waiting arms. Naru spun her around, bouncing her high into the air as she laughed with relief. Ku barely had time to fold her wings in before Naru pulled her in to a tight hug, nuzzling their faces together. Tears flooded Ori's eyes; he didn't know how they had gotten there, but he couldn't bring himself to care. Mama was there. That was all that mattered. He struggled to his hooves.</p><p>"Gumo!"</p><p>Gumo's rich laughter filled the marsh as he reached out to catch Ku in both hands. She spent all of a second in his grip before he started to bounce her up, up, higher and higher, until her giggles mixed with his relief. Naru was still smiling as she turned her attention to Ori, but that smile soon dropped away.</p><p>"Ori!"</p><p>Ori tried to smile, one arm wrapped around his middle. He took a step towards her.</p><p>"Mama--"</p><p>His legs gave way. Before he could hit the ground, Naru was on him, scooping him up into her arms and cradling him against her chest. She was warm, soft, familiar, and the tears began to fall. He clung to her with all of his strength, what little was left to him now.</p><p>"Ori, oh, Ori," Mama Naru whispered, holding him close, "My little light. You're alright now, shh, shh, you're alright,"</p><p>Her familiar warble vibrated through his body and something inside of him <i>snapped</i>. Safe in her arms once more, Ori let go. It started with a tiny hiccup that quickly grew into a sob that he could not keep from building into a wait, chest deep and painful. He couldn't stop them, didn't even try. It had only been a few days since they'd taken to the skies and so much had gone wrong! Everything had gone so wrong...</p><p>"Shh, shh," Naru continued to soothe, not caring about the mess he was making of her fur. She bounced him gently, stroked a hand down his back. "I'm here, I'm here."</p><p>She was.</p><p>It took some time for Ori's sobs to abate, leaving him hollow-chested and sniffling. Naru held him aloft to look at his face; Ori scrubbed at his eyes with one paw and couldn't smile at her. She shook her head, pulling him back into her embrace.</p><p>"You two have had quite the adventure, haven't you?" Gumo's voice sounded from behind them. Ori looked up over Naru's shoulder to see the gumon walk forward towards them, Ku perched on the top of his head. "Coming this far with that feather! What happened to it, anyway?"</p><p>"It's...we lost it," Ku said with a disheartened croon, "I can't fly anymore..."</p><p>"Not to worry, not to worry," Gumo comforted her, "We can make you something better back home."</p><p>Home. Yes, home. Nibel, with its sprawling forests and twisting rivers, the warmth of the sun on his back, the sweet tang of the fruits in Swallow's Nest. He longed for it now, sniffling, hiding away in Naru's warm embrace. Water rippled behind him.</p><p>"Ah, so you are Ori and Ku's parents," Kwolok rumbled down at them warmly, "Well met, denizens of Nibel. I am Kwolok."</p><p>"Well met, spirit of Niwen," Naru greeted with a smile in her voice, "Thank you for looking after our little ones. We will be taking them home now."</p><p>"I am afraid it is not so simple," Kwolok began, but Ori found himself tuning out the toad spirit's explanation. Ku hopped from Gumo's head to Naru's shoulder, leaning down to nuzzle him. Ori sniffled again, turning to lean their foreheads together. Gumo wrapped them all up in his long arms, listening to Kwolok speak.</p><p>They weren't finished. Niwen still needed their help, somehow, but for those few moments, everything was right in the world.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>because if I needed a hug after Mouldwood, the Reach, and the Luma Pools? You better believe Ori did too!</p><p>also yes, #KwolokLives</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. love's gonna conquer all</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <i>Shriek screamed in the night, her battered wings carrying her away from the Spirit Willow. Sent flying in her wake, Ori hit the ground hard, bouncing to a stop among the rocky remains of the Weeping Ridge. He lay there breathless, stunned. Thunder cracked overhead, or maybe it was the crack of wood strained beyond the breaking point.</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>"Ori," Seir's voice was weak, her glow faded from Shriek's attack, "Ori, you must get up. Please, get up."</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>With a groan, Ori pushed himself to look up at her. The Spirit Willow was still hanging onto the cliff face beyond them, but for how much longer? The Decay was just as sturdy. It would eat through the last of the roots soon, and when that happened...he tried to get his hooves beneath him, but his body wouldn't respond. His ears folded back.</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>"I can't," He said, "Seir, I...I can't..."</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>"I know," She replied, "My Light alone is not enough, and the Willow is beyond us now. But there is another way. Do you remember the murals in the Windtorn Ruins?" When Ori managed a nod she continued, "A Spirit can become a Vessel for the Light, can become a new tree!"</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>Slowly, Ori lifted his head.</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>"What are you saying?"</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>"Together, our Light would be strong enough to create a new tree." Seir replied. She moved towards him and he pushed himself back, falling onto his rear end, "But you cannot bear it as you are. You must grow."</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>"By becoming a tree?!"</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>"By becoming what you were meant to be," She said. Her voice grew soft, an attempt at soothing without any real warmth behind it, "This has been the way of things for countless generations. You might have even grown to replace your own Spirit Tree, given time."</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>But he wasn't replacing his tree with Sein at his side. He was being asked to replace a different tree, with a strange spirit, in a land that wasn't his home. He was being asked to leave behind the life he knew, the family he loved, for a forest that wasn't his. Shaking his head Ori pushed himself back further, further until his back hit rock. He had nowhere else to go.</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>"I can't," He whimpered, wishing Naru was there, "I don't want to--"</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>"Ori," Seir interrupted, "If the Willow falls, the forest will die. Everyone will die if the Light does not return. It is the only way." She stopped, her glow flickering, before genuine warmth entered her voice. "I am sorry. It is time, Ori."</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>"I don't want to," He repeated, tears spilling down his cheeks, turning her golden glow into a blur, "I don't want to leave them, Seir...not like this!"</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>"You will always have them with you. The Light never forgets."</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>His ears perked up. "What?"</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>"The Light will always remember what once was. It will remember how you felt about them, even when the Ori you are now is gone."</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>"The Light remembers what once was..." Ori repeated. The memories left in the Trees. The hopes and dreams of the Spirits who had come before and gone ahead. Their memory of how Niwen had once been, and how the Willow could be again. He lifted his head, "Seir, what if I give you the Light?"</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>"What?"</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>"The Ancestral Light." He pressed a paw to his chest. "What if I gave it back to you?"</i>
</p>
<p>"Catch me, catch me!"</p>
<p>"Higher, higher!"</p>
<p>"Up here, up here!"</p>
<p>Ori blinked himself awake, blearily staring at the golden leaves of the Wellspring Glade's highest boughs. The hammock-nest swayed gently in the warm morning breeze, and he yawned so wide tears came to his eyes. Down below, the Moki were all laughing, paws scrabbling against wood as they played catch with leaves. Gumo's rich laugh carried up with their shrieks of joy, his long arms juggling them three or four at a time across the rope bridges and hanging platforms of the settlement below. Something rich and savory was bubbling away further along, Naru's familiar warble melding with Opher's reading of a recipe he had found in the mill. Tail drifting lazily off the edge of the hammock, Ori didn't bother to lift his head.</p>
<p>He wasn't really sure he could have gotten it far, anyway. He felt as weak as a newborn spirit, drained of all but the barest hint of his Light. Even his glow had faded somewhat, flickering in the morning sun. It would return, given time, but for now it was all he could do to just stay awake.</p>
<p>That was fine. There was nothing left that needed doing anyway.</p>
<p>Wings beat overhead. He flicked an ear up towards the sound as Ku flapped her way through the branches. The early morning breeze slipped through her feathers as Ku landed beside him, sending the hammock swinging. She tucked her wings in and nestled down.</p>
<p>"Ori?" She asked, "You awake yet?"</p>
<p>Ori flicked an ear at her. A wing tip nudged against his side, the feathers tickling his regrown fur. </p>
<p>"Come on, sleepy-head." She teased, "Wake up! The sun's been up for hours now!"</p>
<p>"Mrgh," He groaned tiredly. Giving back the Ancestral Light the way he had had nearly taken his own Light with it, leaving him more exhausted than he could ever remember feeling. Everything the Light had given him, all of his powers and abilities, he had given it back without hesitation.</p>
<p>It had been the right decision. Letting those memories return to their ancient home had been enough Light to restore the Willow, and through her the rest of Niwen. The Decay had been forced out, the damage healed, and life was slowly returning. It couldn't restore all the lives lost, but the forest and its inhabitants would recover with time. So would he.</p>
<p>"Orrrrriiiiii..." Ku crooned in one ear, sending it flicking wildly. He cracked an eye open and she leaned back, practically beaming. "Morning!"</p>
<p>"Mmph."</p>
<p>With a giggle, Ku settled in against his side. The forest hadn't been the only thing to heal as the Light returned. Ku's damaged wing had healed as well, and she was making good use out of it. Mostly to tickle him now, a gesture that made him roll over to give her more space.</p>
<p>"How are you feeling?" She asked him.</p>
<p>"Tired." But more awake than before. He grabbed a piece of straw jabbing into his side and tossed it off the hammock. Two Moki shrieked as they caught sight of it, scrambling to catch it. The siblings watched them for a few seconds before Ori stretched from ears to tail. "Could sleep another week."</p>
<p>"You already slept three days!" Ku pointed out, narrowing her eyes, "How can you be so lazy!"</p>
<p>"You save a whole forest and see if you're not tired," He grumbled, waving a paw at her. She snapped her beak in his direction, feathers fluffing up. They quickly went back down as he wrapped his arm around her back. "I'm okay, Ku."</p>
<p>Her anger fading as quickly as it had come, Ku turned to press her forehead to his.</p>
<p>"...You really scared me," She whispered, "When we found you, I thought..."</p>
<p>She didn't need to finish. He tugged her in close, hiding his face in her soft feathers. It <i>had</i> been close, closer than ever before, but what mattered was the now. The safe, warm, happy now.</p>
<p>"I'm okay," He repeated, "It's over now."</p>
<p>The Willow once again watched over Niwen, secure for another long lifetime. Already Light Spirits were beginning to return to the forest, born again in new, unfamiliar places. Those that had survived the initial Decay would stay here in the Glades for a while, but they too had new, unfamiliar homes to make. Niwen would be fine.</p>
<p>"Is it?" Ku asked, "What about Shriek? What do you think happened to her?"</p>
<p>"I don't know," Ori replied. There had been no sign of Shriek after he had forced her off, forced her away from the Willow. When he'd heard of the battle Tokk had made his way to the Silent Woods to see if she'd returned, but he'd come back saying there was nothing there at all. Nothing, no one. The Silent Woods had finally gone truly silent.</p>
<p>Wherever she was, he hoped that Shriek could finally find some peace.</p>
<p>"I think she's gone now," He said to Ku, flicking his tail. "Niwen's going to be fine when we leave."</p>
<p>"Yeah," She cooed, "You're right. Everything's going to be just fine."</p>
<p>And it would be. Soon, when his strength had returned to him, they would make the return trip to Nibel. For now Ori was content to lay in the hammock with Ku, watching the leaves drift lazily past and listening to the Moki play.</p>
<p>"Ku! Ori!" Naru called up to them, "The soup is ready!"</p>
<p>His stomach chose that moment to grumble loudly, and the two siblings shared a laugh. Ori let go to push himself up, while Ku tucked her wings low, gesturing towards her back with her head.</p>
<p>"Come on," She said, "Before Gumo and Opher eat it all."</p>
<p>Ori laughed. Pulling himself onto her back, he took firm handfuls of feathers into his paws. She spread her wings, and with Ori safely holding on, Ku took off into the early morning sky.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Eventually, the family would return to Nibel, where Sein and the Spirit Tree would both have heart attacks at how close they'd come to losing Ori, but where all could continue to live out their days in peace and happiness.</p>
<p>At least, until the next time adventure came calling. :3</p>
<p>More seriously, give up the Ancestral Light = Bag of Spilling so Ori has to start over and regain powers in the next game and gets to go home with the others rather than <i>turning into a damned tree without so much as a goodbye DEVS</i></p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Because as much as I rather enjoyed WoTW, the second half leading into the ending tore out my heart, stomped on the it, and then told me it was okay. Which, no. It's not. </p><p>title and chapter names from Dear Hate by Maren Morris</p></blockquote></div></div>
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